The Princess and The Scoundrel
by brookemopolitan
Summary: Kate in a gold bikini. Empire Strikes Back references. Just a fluffy night with Castle and Beckett. Season 5, no overt spoilers (beyond a reference to a Nebula 9 character)


There was a twitter conversation between myself, annie_x_m, KyinHI and Indrani_S. They wanted a fic with the Star Wars gold bikini and baby dinosaur noises... this is the best I could come up with ladies. I hope you enjoy :D. The dinosaur noises thing is a reference to another one shot I wrote called May The Mouse Be With You (A post ep for Final Frontier), which you totally don't HAVE to read, but I'd love it if you did, and I'd love it more if there was a review ;)

This does make reference to the Empire Strikes Back. So if you haven't seen it, you will be spoiled (And I feel like of bad for you. Because the only people who haven't seen Star Wars are the characters in Star Wars. And that's cause they lived them, Ted. They lived the Star Wars)

Once again, beta free, so don't jump down my throat at any errors. If there's something gapingly wrong, point it out and I'll fix it.

Disclaimer: there hasn't been enough kissing for me to own Castle.

* * *

The last two weeks had honestly felt like they would never end. They'd been hit with a triple homicide that had been a needle in a haystack to solve. They'd had to chase more than one suspect down in the rain, and the whole team was running on a combination of coffee, minimal sleep and bad takeout. They'd never been more grateful to close a case.

The whole team was careful to not to distract Beckett from her paperwork. In addition to her high stress workload, Castle was in LA for over a week, negotiating the new contract for the next Nikki Heat movie. No cop was brave enough to say it to her face, but Beckett totally had Castle withdrawal issues.

Beckett kept her head down, motoring through post case paperwork at lightening speed. She put her signature onto the final form with a flourish, shoving the bundle of paper into its manila envelope as she pulled her handbag out of her bottom drawer. She crossed the bullpen in three steps, practically throwing the file into the Captain's in tray.

"You got somewhere to be, Beckett?" Esposito teased.

Kate gave him a sassy smile. "Some of us have more than the Sports Channel and a microwave meal to look forward to when we get home."

"Castle's back tonight, isn't he?" Ryan asked.

Kate nodded. "Its our anniversary," she added, slightly sheepish before running into the elevator, giving the boys a cheeky grin as the doors shut. She sneezed loudly. Shaking her head and sniffling, she dug her phone out of her bag. She smiled when she saw a text sent thirty minutes ago.

"_Just about to start boarding. See you in a few hours :) :)"_

Kate rolled her eyes affectionately at Castle's overuse of emoticons. She quickly tapped out a response.

"_Come straight to my place. I'll be waiting…"_

The exchanging of keys had been done with relatively little fuss or ceremony. A few months back, a drunken suspect had managed to blow chunks all over Beckett's jeans. She'd sent Castle to her apartment, spare key in hand to grab her a change of clothes. She hadn't asked for a key back, and two days later, she'd found a key (and corresponding parking space) to the loft on her key ring.

She was glad she had a few hours before Castle arrived home. She desperately wanted a hot soak in the tub, and she needed some ibuprofen and a bottle of water to counteract the coffee migraine she'd been nursing for two days.

* * *

The hot water had gone a long way to soothe the stiffness of her limbs. She'd had the chance to shave her legs, wash her hair that had been so oily it had gone around the bend and almost felt clean again, and put on a facemask.

She skipped the glass of wine for orange juice, desperately willing her throbbing head to go away. She cleared her throat.

She couldn't quite believe she was doing this. She'd sworn that her cosplaying past was well behind her, her Lieutenant Chloe outfits buried deep within her wardrobe. But Castle had put up with her; emotional distance, crazy work schedule, insecurities and all, and she figured she owed him one. She pulled the legendary outfit off its hanger, and slipped into it. The laces proved a struggle, but she eventually got the costume in place.

She stared at the hair accessories that had come along in the eBay delivery. She really didn't have enough hair for the proper style, and the thought of raising her ache-y arms above her head for that long made her shudder. Instead, she twisted her hair into a loose braid and checked her phone for the time. She still had a good two hours before Castle was due to arrive in the city, and she had a nasty feeling the airport was going to be a nightmare to escape.

Kate quickly blew her nose. She figured she could read for an hour or so, and by then the over the counter meds she'd taken would have a chance to kick in, and she'd still have time to finish her make up and possibly take a closer look at her hair before Castle got back.

In minutes, she was curled on her bed with a dog-eared copy of _In A Hail of Bullets_, the sound of rain tinkling against her window.

* * *

Castle unlocked the door to Kate's apartment. There was a distinct lack of sound and light (Kate always had some kind of music playing, and it was a rare night when she didn't have approximately a thousand candles lit). He quietly stowed his bags in the corner, slipping out of his muddy shoes.

He moved stealthily through the house. The kitchen looked like it hadn't been touched in weeks, and she wasn't in the tub. He crept into her bedroom.

Kate was sprawled on the bed, one of his books resting on her chest. She was sound asleep… wearing a Princess Leia costume. And not just any Princess Leia costume. She was wearing the Slave Girl costume from Jabba the Hutt's lair. She was wearing a gold freaking bikini for him.

Castle sat down on the edge of the bed. Kate looked like she'd skipped a few meals in the days he'd been away, and the dark circles underneath her eyes were deep and pronounced. He wasn't going to wake her up. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Shit. She was warm. Much warmer than she should be.

"Kate," he spoke softly. "Kate, sweetheart, you need to wake up," he crooned, his fingers gently tracing patterns on her arm and bare stomach.

He knew she was waking up when she began to twitch. She opened her eyes, blinking to adjust to the soft light coming from the floor lamp at the door. "Castle?" she muttered blearily. She heard him chuckle as she stretched and her baby dinosaur noise slipped out.

She sat up abruptly. "What are you doing here?" She asked groggily.

"You told me to come and see you when I got in from LA," he reminded her.

"Yeah, but you weren't due back for another two hours," she muttered.

Castle traced the crease marks pressed into her cheek from her pillow. "I think you fell asleep." His hand pressed against her forehead. "Kate, you feel really warm, and you look like death warmed up. What the hell happened this week?"

"Triple homicide. Chasing suspects down in the rain. I can't remember the last time I ate something that wasn't processed," she replied distractedly. "Its our anniversary. I can't believe I fell asleep," she moaned. "Give me ten minutes. I'll go take some Midol," she added, standing up and moving towards the bathroom.

"Whoa, stop," Castle ordered, snagging her arm and pulling her back to the bed. "Are you kidding right now, Kate?" He asked. She frowned. "Sweetheart, you're sick."

"I'll be fine, Castle," Kate interjected, her tone slightly whiny.

"Kate, listen!" He insisted. "You're gorgeous. You're also fulfilling several of my teenage fantasies right now, but there is absolutely no way I'm taking advantage of you in this state. I don't want you to grit and teeth and bear it. Let me take care of you," he implored.

Kate listened to his heartfelt words, and let her head drop onto his shoulder, too exhausted for her tough veneer. "I feel awful," she complained, head buried into the crook of his neck. Her arms slipped around his waist, clinging tightly, her cheek nuzzling against his stubble.

Castle's fingers stroked a soothing pattern up and down her spine as he mumbled calming nonsense in her ear. Who would have thought that sick Kate was cuddly?

"We need to get you out of this. But it is totally coming out when you're feeling better," He whispered. Kate nodded. Castle made quick work of the bows and untangled Kate from the costume. She barely reacted when he helped her slip one of his stolen (and rather threadbare) shirts over her head, and added a pair of yoga pants and fuzzy socks for good measure.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

Kate shook her head. "I feel like I'm going to throw up. And my throat hurts too much to swallow," she answered.

"Can we just… watch _The Empire Strikes Back_ and let me die quietly?" Kate asked, pouting at how pathetic she sounded, even to her own ears.

"You sure you wouldn't rather sleep?" Castle asked.

Kate shook her head. "I'll end up waking up in the middle of the night."

* * *

Castle had insisted on setting Kate up on the couch with a complex looking pile of pillows and blankets before he ran down to the drugstore for cold and flu medication and Gatorade for Kate.

Kate accepted his fussing, and even drank the weird green goo that he insisted was a booster for her immune system without complaint. She gratefully curled up against his chest when he finally agreed to settle down and watch the movie.

She couldn't help smiling as Han and Leia argued down the hallways of the Rebel Base on Hoth. "They kind of remind me of us," she commented.

"Do they?" Castle asked.

"Yeah. Two total opposites, forced to work together, who were totally attracted to each other, and totally infuriated by each other. Sound familiar?"

"You forget. You never infuriated me," Castle pointed out. Kate raised her eyebrow at him. "You also never kissed your long lost brother."

"That I did not," Kate agreed, sighing happily when she felt Castle loosened her braid, his fingers coming to tangle in her hair.

The drugs had well and truly kicked in when Han and Leia were in the engine room of the _Millennium Falcon_. "I like it when you don't shave," Kate told Castle, her fingers coming up to trace the stubble on his cheek. "Makes you look like a scoundrel. And it feels good."

Castle filed that information away for future use. He simply gave her a wink, pressing a kiss on her brow (relieved to find that it wasn't nearly as warm as it was when they'd started the movie).

Kate's breath caught in her chest. Han was about to be encased in carbonite. Leia blurted out a brave declaration… the one that Kate hadn't been brave enough to say.

Castle felt Kate stiffen. He rubbed his hand up her back, feeling her relax under his touch. She looked up at him, her slightly glassy eyes communicating the words they knew to be true, but she had never vocalised. "I know," he whispered.

Kate's body sagged in relief. "Good."

* * *

feel free to follow me on twitter :) brookemopolitan. I'm also on tumblr under the same moniker, though I'm not on there too much these days.

Reviews are love :D


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